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| (visual by Abel Briquet via this license) |
dispatch ten
Mule Factory
by Steve Goerger
debuted 15 August 2009 | kept 1143 times | click to keep
"Don!" Shaito whispers to himself the next morning. He considers what the word could mean. He has been listening to the Mexicans, Rudolpho, Rico, and Inez, speak Spanish, and this is the only word he has heard them all say. Both Americans are named Don, he believes, assuming this is only a coincidence. Don is a very common American name, after all: Rumsfeld, Rickles, Knotts. But in Spanish it must be a word of great and secret importance. So secret they leave it out of the dictionaries and it gathers full power only at night. Clandestinely he whispers it to the sun. He smiles at the Don he works with.
One of their jennies gives birth to the first mule of the season. Rudolpho demonstrates standard operating procedure, his arm streaked bloody up to the elbow. The little thing lies silent a few minutes and then suddenly looses a strange almost-bray, an odd throaty little whisper.
Back in the office Rudolpho washes up, then splits a spliff with Don. Don smokes with one hand, kneads Inez’s back with the other. Inez files and shuffles and straightens.
"The girls are in good hands this year," Rudolpho says. "Soft hands–Dan is a fine, dedicated worker. Not like you, eh, Don, making your girl do all the work!"
Don smokes.
The phone rings under Inez’s waiting hand. She picks it up and says: "Estou!" Rudolpho wonders what kind of regional dialect she speaks. Her voice is rapid. Water rushing over rock. He hopes the local touch will help sell mules in her area.